Ernst B. Haas: October 2002

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Ernst B. Haas
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HAAS, ERNST B. (born March 31, 1924) is most widely known for his contributions to the
study of international cooperation and interdependence. During the 1950s and 1960s his work on
regional integration in Europe created the foundation for two decades of research on regional
integration throughout the world. He and John Ruggie were cofounders of the study of
international regimes. His more recent work has focused on the importance of cognition and
learning in international affairs, especially as they affect the ability of international organizations
to adapt to new circumstances. Haas received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1952. He
taught at the University of California at Berkeley from 1951 until his retirement in 2000. From
1965 to 1967 he served as associate director of the Institute of International Studies at Berkeley
and as director from 1967 to 1973. His most important honors included membership on the
Commission to Study the Organization of Peace (1960-77), fellow of the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences, membership on the Committee on International Organization of the Social
Science Research Council (1963-68), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (1973-74). He was a
consultant for the U.S. Department of State (1961-70) and for the United Nations (1981-84). He
was a member of the Council of the American Political Science Association in 1962 and of its
Committee on Professional Ethics (1968-71). He received major research grants from the
Rockefeller Foundation and the Social Science Research Council.
The Uniting of Europe was the first work on regional integration that subordinated a
descriptive account to an explicit theory. Haas analyzed the politics of the European Coal and
Steel Community in terms of a new type of interstate cooperation that focused on integrative
processes among interest groups, bureaucracies, and political parties. He formulated the concept
of spillover, which holds that an initial commitment to integrate a vital sector of a national
economy with those of other states will inevitably lead to decisions to integrate additional sectors
if it becomes apparent that such steps will enhance benefits and if the costs of going back on the
initial bargain outweigh the benefits of resuming national sovereignty. In Beyond the Nation
State: Functionalism and International Organization, he formulated a theory of global
integration which he called neofunctionalist, in contrast to the functionalist theory put forward by
David Mitrany. Whereas Mitrany had proposed a technocratically based process of integration,
Haas allowed politics to push the process forward, backward, and around as actors redefined
their interests in specific but interrelated issue areas. The theory was developed on the empirical
basis of an analysis of the International Labor Organization in the expectation that it might be
generalizable to other global membership organizations. Aspects of this theory have been carried
over into contemporary neoliberal institutionalism and into studies of international integration in
sociology and psychology.
This theory seemed to be confounded by real-world events in the 1970s and early 1980s,
leading Haas to reexamine neofunctionalism as it relates to regional integration. In The
Obsolescence of Regional Integration Theory, he located points at which the initial explanation
had erred, particularly in the mistaken application of the Western Europe-based spillover process
to Third World regional integration efforts. While Haas's neofunctionalist theory did not predict
the failure of regional efforts outside Europe, it did explain the uneven progress toward
integration in Western Europe and the inability of certain United Nations agencies to perform
their missions well.

Haas made additional major contributions to the study of international
organizations and international regimes in the 1980s and 1990s. Scientists and World
Order: The Uses of Technical Knowledge in International Organizations (with Mary Pat
Williams and Don Babai) deals with the interplay of science, technology, and politics in
international organizations. Haas, together with John Gerard Ruggie, was instrumental in
formulating and applying the concept of international regimes in International Responses
to Technology. His book, When Knowledge Is Power: Three Models of Change in
International Organizations, demonstrated when and how decision makers in
international organizations make use of technical knowledge to adapt programs and to
change them dramatically in line with new understandings of causal mechanisms.
Selected Works
1956 Dynamics of International Relations. With Alan Whiting. New York: McGraw-Hill.
1958 The Uniting of Europe. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.
1964 Beyond the Nation-State: Functionalism and International Organization. Stanford,
Calif.: Stanford University Press.
1969 Tangle of Hopes: American Commitments and World Order. Englewood Cliffs,
N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
1970 Human Rights and International Action. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.
1975 International Responses to Technology. Ed. with John Ruggie. Special issue of
International Organization 29 (Summer).
1975 The Obsolescence of Regional Integration Theory. Berkeley, Calif.: Institute of
International Studies.
1977 Scientists and World Order: The Uses of Technical Knowledge in International
Organizations. With Mary Pat Williams and Don Babai. Berkeley: University of
California Press.
1990 When Knowledge Is Power: Three Models of Change in International
Organizations. Berkeley: University of California Press.
1997 Nationalism, Liberalism, and Progress: The Rise and Decline of Nationalism.
Volume 1. Ed. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.
2000 Nationalism, Liberalism, and Progress: The Dismal Fate of New Nations. Volume
2. Edited with Peter Katzenstein. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.
Jeffrey A. Hart
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See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

Chapter · October 2002

The Politics of HDTV and Digital Television View project

Industrial Policy View project

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Science Research Council (1963-68), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (1973-74). He was a

Rockefeller Foundation and the Social Science Research Council.

State: Functionalism and International Organization, he formulated a theory of global

sociology and psychology.

leading Haas to reexamine neofunctionalism as it relates to regional integration. In The

their missions well.

formulating and applying the concept of international regimes in International Responses

to Technology. His book, When Knowledge Is Power: Three Models of Change in

International Organizations, demonstrated when and how decision makers in

international organizations make use of technical knowledge to adapt programs and to

change them dramatically in line with new understandings of causal mechanisms.

1958 The Uniting of Europe. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.

1964 Beyond the Nation-State: Functionalism and International Organization. Stanford,

Calif.: Stanford University Press.

International Organization 29 (Summer).

1975 The Obsolescence of Regional Integration Theory. Berkeley, Calif.: Institute of

1990 When Knowledge Is Power: Three Models of Change in International

Organizations. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Volume 1. Ed. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.

2. Edited with Peter Katzenstein. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.

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